An expert team builder warned students Thursday that their actions now will catch up with them later.
"You don't know where you are going to be in 20 years, but I can tell you this: If you do something on Spring Break, it will come back to haunt you and your respect will go straight down the tube, " Pegine Echevarria, teambuilder, said.
Echevarria's presentation "Journey From the Streets to Success" was sponsored by the Latino Student Union in conjunction with Women's Week.
She told students they can only change their lives through action, not just by thinking about taking action. The recurring in her presentation was, "I can, I want to and I will change."
Echevarria spoke about her life struggles while growing up in the Bronx, N.Y.
She was became involved with gang activities early in life so she could survive the streets. When she was 8 years old, her parents divorced, and her older sister ran away from home, only to fall to the lure of drugs and gangs. Echevarria was kicked out of her first high school at 17.
"To be in the neighborhood, you had to be tough, so I took on that persona," Echevarria said. As she grew older, she decided gang life and smoking on street corners was not what she wanted to do.
"I thought I looked cool, but in my head, I couldn't imagine myself here," Echevarria said. "What your mama said when you were little was true. Be careful who you hang out with. I had to transform my thinking to, 'I can, I want to and I will.'"
Echevarria is a nationally recognized expert on success, leadership and teambuilding. Her latest book is titled, "For All Our Daughters."
Her organization Team Pegine helps businesses gain leadership skills and work together as a team to achieve their goals.
Echevarria's Team Pegine clients include Chase Manhattan Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and State Farm Insurance.
She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, ABC and the Montel Williams Show.
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